The research behind
recovery and healing —
gathered in one place.
Sanatio Research aggregates peer-reviewed research on porn addiction, sex addiction, compulsive sexual behavior (CSBD), betrayal trauma, and healing after relationship betrayal — drawn from four major research databases into one searchable feed.
Free to use. No account needed. Just science.
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Pick the research areas you care about and read what's there. No account, no signup.
Porn & Sex Addiction
Compulsive sexual behavior, problematic pornography use, and hypersexuality — including CSBD as defined in the ICD-11.
Betrayal Trauma
Research on the stress and trauma response that follows sexual betrayal in a committed relationship.
Trust Rebuilding
Studies on how trust erodes and what the evidence shows about repairing it after a betrayal.
Disclosure
The literature on formal and staggered disclosure, and how each is associated with later outcomes.
Neuroscience
Reward, cue reactivity, and self-regulation research underlying compulsive sexual behavior.
Couples Recovery
Couples-therapy process and outcome research on relationships working through infidelity and sexual betrayal.
What the research actually says.
Sourced from indexed research databases, with citations back to the original studies.
Neural Correlates of Compulsive Pornography Use: Dopaminergic Reward Pathways and Behavioral Sensitization
We used fMRI to examine brain responses to sexually explicit videos in individuals with compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) compared to controls. CSB subjects showed greater activation in the ventral striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate, and amygdala — regions associated with reward, salience, and emotional processing.
Betrayal Trauma and the Physiological Stress Response in Partners of Sex Addicts: Cortisol Dysregulation and PTSD Symptom Clusters
This study examined the psychological and physiological impact of sexual betrayal on partners. Of 35 female participants whose partners were self-identified sex addicts, 70% met criteria for PTSD using the PTSD Checklist-Civilian version.
The hard work deserves real science behind it.
Twice a week, we search Europe PMC, Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, and Crossref for new peer-reviewed research in this field. Want to know when something new lands in your area of interest? Leave your email — that's all it's for.